1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for reproducing digital data, and more particularly to the use of a digital audio tape recorder (DAT) for recording data for a computer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Data processed e.g. by a computer and stored in a hard disk drive or the like is transferred to a recorder or a so-called data streamer to be recorded or backed up on another recording medium, e.g. once a day, for protection of such data. For this purpose, analog audio recorders have been conventionally employed as the data streamer in many cases.
However, the DAT, which has recently been sold in the audio recording market, is suitable for recording the above-mentioned data since it is fundamentally designed to record and reproduce digital signals. In order to use a DAT as a data recorder, a so-called read after write method is employed in consideration of its fidelity, wherein data is written, concurrently read out, and checked for errors. The assignee of the present application has proposed a data recorder using an R-DAT for recording computer data in U.S. patent applications Nos. 133,010, filed Dec. 15, 1987, and 177,624 filed Apr. 5, 1988.
An ordinary DAT of the type which does not employ the read after write method is only provided with a single signal processing circuit which is used in both the data read-out and write modes for detecting errors.
However, if a DAT is employed as a data recorder, the read after write method should be employed for improving the fidelity as described above, so that separate signal processing circuits are used for the data read-out mode and the data write mode, respectively, thereby increasing the size of the circuit and consequently increasing the production cost thereof.